Canada

The former director of public affairs for the Vancouver Police Department is suing the city, the force and one of the VPD's most prominent spokespeople for alleged "gender and racial discrimination, harassment and bullying."

In a lawsuit filed last week in B.C. Supreme Court, Sharmini Dee claims she resigned from her job in June after being "subjected to systemic and persistent gender-based harassment and discrimination by [Sgt. Steve] Addison and other VPD officers."

Dee — who went by the name Sharmini Thiagarajah for the nearly two decades she worked for the VPD — is also suing B.C.'s attorney general and the minister of public safety for negligence, wrongful dismissal and what she alleges was the "intentional infliction of mental suffering."

"As a consequence of the ongoing harassment that she experienced while working with the VPD, [Dee] was diagnosed with multiple psychiatric conditions including major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder," the lawsuit reads.